You Never Forget How To Be Noble
by LifelongObsessor
Summary: Post 'Christmas Carol', Pre 'Impossible Astronaut': The Doctor thought that Donna would never remember the adventures they had had, COULD never remember ... Well, she did. And she's not happy with him. But somehow that's the least of his problems ...
1. Prologue

**Hey guys! It's LifelongObsessor here!**

**Story inspiration time - - Basically, seasons five and six of Doctor Who have thus far have been great, but have one major flaw I can't get past. The first four seasons of the show introduced us to such wonderful characters, characters who would reoccur throughout the series even once their roles as a major player had finished. Since Moffat took over, though, the characters I've grown to love have stopped appearing. Yes, this was obviously going to happen with the change in writers and the show taking a new direction, and the new people are indeed fabulous, but I still miss the old guys, like Rose and Martha and Jack ... and Donna.**

**Having already written "Saving Yourself" to provide myself with more Rose and Ten-Point-Five, I'm now turning to another favorite character of mine to make a return. Yes, yes, I know, I know! We _caaan't_ have more Donna! She'll burn and _diiiie_! _Meta-crisis_! _Gahh_! ... But this is science fiction. Basically, we can do _anything_. ;)**

**This fic is standalone, and NOT meant to coincide with the aforementioned "Saving Yourself".**

**Obviously, I don't own Doctor Who. I'm pretty sure if I did I wouldn't be writing an fanfiction ;)**

**That's enough from me for now. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>PROLOGUE<strong>

Donna Noble was not at all a timid woman. Anybody with a brain was able to determine _that _fact within mere seconds of meeting her. She was a feisty, smart-mouthed red-head with a lightning wit and strong heart who never backed down, never showed any sign of fear or weakness. Donna Noble was a tough, powerful being ...She was, in a word, unstoppable.

These facts were in reality what had Donna so worried right now. She knew all these things about herself to be true; she loved that these traits made up the person she had become. As she sat on her front porch of her and Shaun's home in Chiswick, there was no doubt in Donna's mind that she could take on anything, any force this world, or this universe, even, could throw at her and win. Heights? Easy. Serial killer? No problem. Stock market crash? She'd barely blink an eye. Nothing at all had Donna Nobe frightened, not at all ...

... But here she was, sitting on her porch, staring at a blinkin' wasp.

At first she hadn't realized what she was doing. Somehow her relaxing afternoon of sitting out front with her new romance novel had turned into an intense stare-down with an insect. Not that it stared back, of course. It simply buzzed around her yard, occasionally flitting dangerously close to her head before darting away again. Donna didn't move an inch. Something about wasps made her incredibly nervous these days, for reasons she could never truly place. She had never in all her life been stung. She had previously dabbled in wondering if her fear was that she could have an undiscovered allergy, but that thought was too silly to entertain for long. No, she must have some suppressed memory about a wasp buried somewhere inside her head, perhaps from her childhood. When she tried to remember, however, Donna found nothing but darkness and the onset of a terribly painful headache, the same headache she got when she read an Agatha Christie novel, or heard a particularly mournful song or walked through a dense shadow. Curious.

What made her situation even stranger was her newfound awareness to bees. Over the past couple years, Donna had discovered she was not afraid of bees the way she was wasps, but somehow fascinated by them. They were rumored to be disappearing a few years prior; bees were hardly seen anywhere in Britain for a matter of months. All at once, though, they had come back. Scientists were baffled; they assumed the phenomena must have been caused by cell-phone waves disrupting the bees' flight patterns, but they had no explanation as to their sudden return. Donna knew all this from the afternoon she had spent trying to figure out her strange fascination, but she hadn't absorbed much past that. Reading about bees online was among the most boring things she had ever done. And she was a _temp_.

Despite this, there was nothing Donna wished more than that it was a bee frequenting her lawn that day than a filthy wasp. She breathed a sigh of relief when her husband Shaun came out of the house.

"Thank GOD," she said. "Shaun, if you don't mind, kill that wasp for me?"

Shaun closed the door to the house behind him before turning to Donna and blinking. "You serious?"

Donna rolled her eyes. "No, it's 'Let's-All-Mess-With-Shaun-Day'. YES, I'M SERIOUS," she barked.

Shaun merely blinked again. She seemed even more bewildered by Donna's sudden fear of an insect than she felt herself. "But - " he began to say.

"SHAUN, YOU BEST GET OVER HERE AND SMACK THIS WASP BEFORE_ I _COME OVER _THERE_ AND SMACK _YOU_."

That got his attention. Shaun ran down the front stairs, removing his shoe as he went, and crushed the stinging pest as it landed on the side of the house. "There," he called back, returning to the steps and peering up at Donna in her sun chair. "That better?"

Donna looked back at him in silence. Finally she said "Yeah, thanks," and vanished behind her book. _Stupid Donna_, she thought. _What on Earth has gotten into you? Shaun's gonna think you're mental!_

Shaun, however, was still a tad too afraid of his wife's temper to risk upsetting her with his questions. He brushed the bizarreness of the situation beside and clomped back up the steps. "Right. I'm off to Josh's, then." He planted a quick kiss on Donna's forehead before turning and heading back down the stairs in the direction of the car. "I'll be back later tonight."

"Right," Donna mumbled absentmindedly. She watched him climb into the car, turn the ignition and send a little wave in her direction before pulling out of the yard. _God, he's perfect_, she thought. _How'd I manage to find a thoughtful, caring man who barely speaks a word? _She smiled.

Donna tried to turn her attention back to her book, but couldn't make herself concentrate. Sighing, she threw the book back on her chain and stormed into the house, plopping down in front of the TV. _May as well much some telly_, then, she thought, groaning. _Nothing like sitting at home alone doing some mindless activity for hours and hours ..._

Absolutely nothing was on. Donna sighed and sat a few moments, flipping through channels, what at last something caught her eye. It was some sort of news update.

_" - were baffled today when the call came in that a dinosaur was the reason for the traffic pileup in town. We got to you now, live with Clive Howard. Clive! What's happening down there?"_

Donna laughed out loud. A dinosaur? This had to be a hoax! Right? Nonetheless, her eyes didn't leave the screen. The shot changed to show the street where the dinosaur had supposedly been disrupting traffic. Wreckage framed the road, mostly cars with bizarre, dino-sized indentations in them as if they had been barreled in to. Clive Howard, a tall blonde reporter with a dweeby voice, stood centre-frame and began his report.

_"Well, Deborah, it would appear that the rumors are true. A large green creature, now confirmed by experts to be a breed of triceratops, was inexplicably found wandering up route nine today, disrupting the flow of traffic and causing huge reactions of panic from both drivers and nearby residents. I'm here now with Barty Mac, one of the many confused commuters who witnessed this strange event." _The camera panned away from the interviewer and focused on a short, tubby man of approximately forty-five. _"Sir, could you please describe the strange situation you found yourself in this morning?"_

Donna suddenly threw herself to the floor by the television, not out of interest in the story, or because she though Mr. Barty Mac was attractive or some rubbish like that, but because of something she saw in the distance on-screen. At eye level it was much easier to observe what made up the background beyond Barty's head, but Donna wasn't overly certain what she was even looking for. She had gotten a glimpse of something that excited her, obviously ... but what? Her eyes combed the screen, seeing nothing but trees, a stop sign, prim little houses ...

And then she saw it - A shiny blue box, sitting non-decrepitly on the street corner. _A telephone box? No_, Donna corrected herself. _A __police__ box_. But how did she know that? What was -

It suddenly became very difficult for Donna to think. Pain exploded in her forehead, blurring her vision and pounding like a drum in her mind. Images flashed before her eyes, images of worlds rich with color, of creatures she had never seen or could have possibly imagined. Strange white humanoids with strange tentacled faces. A field made entirely of diamonds. Stout, angry warriors in blue suits, chanting angrily away. And man, a tall skinny man in a pinstripe suit and red Converse Chucks on his feet. A man she knew, a man she trusted. He was a, a -

"Doctor ..." Donna whispered.

Then everything went black.

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><p><strong>Is anybody up for some Eleven, Rory and Amy? Because that's where we're headed next!<strong>

**Any chance I can score some reviews until then? ;)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hi everybody! ... Hmmm? What's that you say? ... What do you mean, 'Who are you?' It's me, LifelongObsessor! You know? Fanfiction Writer? ... No? Not ringing any bells? ... Well. I don't exactly blame you for forgetting, since it has taken me SO LONG to actually post anything, but LOOK! TAH-DAH! Here we go! A new chapter!**

**I'll let you go ahead and read. You've waited long enough. ;)**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER ONE<strong>

"I _told you_ this was a bad idea."

Amy and Rory, lead by the Doctor, trudged slowly back up the street, breathing heavily and slouching from exhaustion. The massive leash the Doctor held in his hand scraped along the concrete as it dangled, creating an unpleasant screeching sound, but everyone in the group was just tired enough that they made no move to prevent it, choosing instead to focus all their energy on simply making it back to the TARDIS. The exception to this, of course, was the energy spent so they could bicker amongst themselves.

"I can't believe you sometimes!" Amy continued incredulously, slowly slipping into what Rory sometimes secretly referred to as 'Rant Mode'. "Why on Earth would you think bringing a _triceratops_ in your _time-traveling space ship _would be a good idea?"

"Amelia Pond!" The Doctor looked back at her in disbelief, stopping in his tracks. "Di-no-saur," he said slowly, emphasizing each syllable. "Time Ma-chine. Out-er Space. How does that _not_ sound like a good idea to you?"

Rory snorted quietly at that, at least until Amy shot him a death glare, causing him to stop short. "Right," he said quickly. "That's _not_ funny, Doctor. _Not_ funny _at all_. This is … serious?" He looked to Amy for approval, eyes wide.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Rory." She sighed and went to step around the Doctor to continue towards the TARDIS, but he stepped directly in front of her path.

"No, honestly," he insisted, pocketing his leash and placing his face inches from hers to get his point across. He forced her to meet his eyes and lowered his voice. "Listen to me very carefully, Amy, because this is deeply, incredibly important and I'm only going to say it once." He was silent for a moment, his gaze still locked with Amy's. "If you only remember one thing I've taught you, one golden rule, one thing from all our travels together, please … let it be this." The air was still and serious by this point and everyone in the Doctor's party was silent, listening to his words. It was because of this that Amy and Rory both jumped a little when the Doctor suddenly tapped Amy on the head three times. "Dinosaurs. Are. Cool," he cried, a word for each tap, a grin plastered across his face the entire time.

The tension between Amy and the Doctor finally broke. Amy nearly keeled over laughing, grasping the Doctor's tweed jacket in both fists for support. The Doctor just smiled smugly, pleased by how easy it could be to get through to humans sometimes. Just for a moment, all the day's stress melted away. For a brief moment they were just three friends on a lonely street, tired and grumpy from a hard day of work (albeit not the conventional kind) but still able to enjoy each other's company. For a moment, it was as if all the trouble of the world no longer existed.

But it all returned in a flash with just two simple words from Rory.

"What's that?" Rory asked suddenly, averting his gaze from his laughing cohorts and gesturing a tad off the street.

The Doctor sprang back from Amy's grasp at that, rushing toward Rory and watching him, excitement evident on his features. "What did you just say?"

Rory blinked. "Um, I asked you what that is. Over there." The Doctor continued staring, so he repeated his previous words, verbatim. "What's that?"

The Doctor slowly smiled. "Amy?" he said, his eyes never leaving Rory's puzzled face. "Do you know what two words, when paired together, cause the most excitement and intrigue to every creature you could possible find in this galaxy?"

Amy blinked. "Well, gosh. Could it be 'What's that?"

"What? No, of course not," the Doctor answered. "The answer is 'Dinner's ready," but 'What's that?" _does_ come in a close second, and _is_ much more appropriate given our current situation." The Doctor took off without another word in the direction Rory had indicated, humming some sort of excited tune to himself.

Rory grabbed Amy's hand before the two of them obediently trotted off behind him. "Bet you he can't go the rest of the day without coming up with another golden rule."

"You're on," Amy giggled, smiling up at her husband. She hadn't known what to expect after her and Rory's honeymoon ended. Traveling with the Doctor and Rory at the same time had seemed like such a problematic idea. Sure, they had done it once before, but that had been cut short by the whole Rory-Never-Existed issue, giving them only a few short weeks together. Besides, they hadn't been married yet during all that so, if need be, the two of them could have severed ties. At the time that had been a blessing to Amy, the knowledge that the pair could split and she wasn't tied down; now it hurt to even think of her and Rory being apart for a few moments, let alone forever. At least something good had come out this whole experience with The Cracks. Besides, of course, the Doctor.

The thought of her favorite Timelord snapped Amy's train of thought back to the present. She saw that the alien in question was now kneeling on the edge of the street, brandishing his sonic screwdriver at some unknown object hidden under a bush. He looked up, annoyed. "Oh, come ON, Ponds! The reason the universe blessed with legs in the first place was so they could _use them_!" Seeing their speed hadn't picked up any, the Doctor tsk-ed and returned to his work. "_Humans_," he muttered under his breath, checking the object's readings on his sonic screwdriver. He blinked. He blinked again. Then he knelt down further for a better look under the bush. _There was no way this could be true …_

At last Amy and Rory made it to his location. "So, what is it this time?" Amy said lightly. "Killer orangutans with a taste for blood, perhaps? Evil clowns from outer space? Ooh, or maybe it's – " She stopped when she saw the Doctor's face. Somehow, in a matter of seconds, everything had changed. The Timelord's face was no longer shining with anticipation and happiness, but was plagued with what could only be described as _fear_.

"Doctor?" Rory said, concern evident in his voice. The Doctor made no motions of moving, his eyes glued on whatever was hiding beneath the confines of the bush. Rory's nursing instincts kicked in as he sunk to the ground by his friend, looking into the Timelord's eyes and putting a hand to his forehead. "He's freezing! I think … I think he's going into shock!"

"What?" Amy cried. "But that's impossible! He's not even human? How could he be – "

"I don't know, Amy, but it's happening," Rory cut her off. "We need to fix this." He bit his lip, considering. "Um, our best bet is probably to get him back to the TARDIS."

Amy laughed, a short fearful sound. "Great. This is just what I wanted to do today – chase a dinosaur down Main Street and carry and alien up a hill. _Wonderful."_

The couple stood and reached to hoist the Doctor to his feet. Suddenly his arm shot out and he dove under the bush, grabbing whatever had been hidden there. Amy tried to see what the mystery object was, but the Doctor had it clamped between his hands and hidden from view. Shrugging, Amy and Rory ignored it for the time being and finally got the Doctor in a standing position.

"Oh, God," Rory said unexpectedly, glancing past his wife's shoulder.

"What?" Amy moaned.

"Not to worry you or anything, but isn't that the police officer who was asking us all those questions this morning?"

Amy craned her neck. Indeed it was the same officer the trio had seen earlier during the day; they had been searching for the runaway dinosaur and contemplating their next move when the angry man had spotted them. None of the other officers on the scene had been very interested in the lot of them, but this one seemed intent on proving they were somehow involved in the day's shenanigans. He had pestered them for a good five minutes (which is a lot of time when a rogue dino is running loose) and surely would have questioned them longer if they hadn't made a break for it.

Apparently he was still looking for them. Great.

"So, let's get moving then?" Amy suggested, pulling the Doctor forward.

"Agreed," chimed Rory, helping her.

A glance behind them showed that the officer had spotted them and was in the process of following them up the hill. Luckily the TARDIS was only a few feet away.

"Ungggggg …" The Doctor groaned just as they reached the doors.

"Rory! I think he's snapping out of it!" Amy cried in relief.

"What? But he was in _shock_!"

"Well, if he WAS, he's not _anymore_!"

"Great," Rory huffed, "because we have another problem." He patted his jean pockets and looked pointedly at Amy. "_Keys?"_

Amy gazed at the TARDIS doors, the LOCKED TARDIS doors, and groaned. "Doctor?" she said in exasperation. "Where are the TARDIS keys?"

The Doctor lazily met Amy's intense stare? "Mmmmmm?" he moaned.

Amy chanced a glance behind her, only to see the officer mere yards behind them. "TARDIS KEYS!" she practically screamed.

At that, the Doctor seemed to completely snap out of it, his eyes becoming lucid and his face determined. "Right. Keys. They're right - "

"GET IN," Rory interrupted with a yell, gesturing toward the ship whose doors were now, inexplicably, open.

Amy and the Doctor practically flew into the TARDIS as Rory slammed the doors behind them, successfully keeping.

Amy sank to the floor. "It's official – I have had _quite _enough running for one day!"

"Nonsense," the Doctor scoffed. "You can _never _have enough running. But that's not important now." He turned to Rory, pointing an accusatory finger in his direction. "YOU. How did you open the TARDIS doors?"

"It was unlocked," Rory said defensively.

"Was not," Amy said. "I saw him lock it myself."

It was silent for a moment. Finally the Doctor said, "I think we have a problem."

"Oh, you have NO IDEA, SPACEMAN" a strange voice suddenly chimed, slashing the air with its words.

Amy sprang to her feet, gazing madly around the room. This wasn't supposed to happen! "Doctor? What's going on?" She gazed at him from the corner of her eye and saw a look of sheer terror forming on the Doctor's face, possibly a look even more afraid than he had been wearing mere minutes ago. "Doctor?" she said again. "What is it? Who said that?"

The Doctor blinked. "The most terrifying creature in all of time and space," he slowly began to reply. "A creature worshipped on many planets in the galaxy, but feared on many others. A creature that isn't afraid of anything in this entire cosmos, much less me." Rory took Amy's hand, suddenly feeling in danger. "A creature that has faced nearly every problem the universe could throw at it and who, by all accounts," he said, with a hint of confusion, "shouldn't even be alive right now."

There was a sudden flurry of movement behind the TARDIS console. Amy and Rory watched in terror as the creature stepped into view … only to become horribly confused when they saw not a creature with fearfully large incisors or oozing plasma as they had subconsciously been expecting, but a middle-aged woman with fiery red hair and a scowl stretching across her face.

The couple turned to the Doctor, wondering if this was some sort of joke. If his unwavering expression was anything to go by, it wasn't.

"Amy … Rory …" the Doctor said, "I'd like you to meet Donna Noble."

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><p><strong>Hello again!<strong>

**As I said above, I know I've been awful in my updating. I sincerely apologize; September hit and I kind of lost it, I guess.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter - it was inexplicably really hard to write! I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, truthfully, but I _am_ happy with it to be sure.**

**Now, if I actually get anything WRITTEN, we can get into some fun adventures through time and space! And maybe find out what the Doctor found and what caused him to become so distressed? Hmmm?**

**Thanks for still sticking with me, guys! Your reviews for the prologue were WONDERFUL! Any chance you can send some more my way? Please?  
>Heck, even if you just want to tell me your opinion on the past five Doctor Who episodes, that'd be great in itself! ;)<strong>

**THANKS SO MUCH! :D**


	3. Chapter 2

**Apologies and explanations as to my EXTREME delaying in writing will be at the end of this chapter. For now, read away! Please! Go!**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER TWO<strong>

If there was one thing the Doctor had missed since he had returned Donna to her family roughly two years earlier, it was that look of sheer ginger-fury that took control of her entire face when he did something that was, by her standards, excessively rude or totally unacceptable. He had spent many nights alone on the TARDIS trying to remember the exact way her face would contort when moments like this occurred, how her eyebrows would rise halfway up her forehead as her jaw plunged toward to floor, forming an 'o' that meant he was about to get an earful. Sometimes he wondered how much he would give up just to see Donna Noble shoot him a patented Death Glare; sometimes he thought he'd give anything just to see that one last time.

It was a good thing he hadn't. Looking at her now, with her flashing eyes and angry pursed lips, the Doctor realized he had forgotten one important thing that went hand in hand with this trademarked moment; _fear_. Donna Noble could be _scary_.

The Doctor could feel Rory and Amy's eyes boring into his back as he watched his old friend stomp angrily towards them. He knew they had a lot of questions, as did he, but he also knew there was no stopping Donna once she had gotten started which, if the way she aggressively stomped to a stop in front of him was any indication, appeared to be happening right this second.

"Hi, Donna," he offered weakly, knowing his greeting would in no way soften the blow that was coming.

He was right about that. "_'Hi Donna'_? Are you _blinkin'_ serious?" Donna snapped, eyes blazing like fire. "You think, that after _all_ this time, after all you've done, after all you've put me through, that THAT is an appropriate greeting to give _me_?" She shook her head. "You're off your head, Spaceman."

"What was I supposed to say, then?" he asked, taking a step forward. "You caught me off guard, Donna! I didn't have time to plan a hearty welcoming message for you or compose a song!"

"A _song_? Do you not realize how_ very_ angry I am with you, and you're telling _jokes_?"

The Doctor waved his arms in a slightly manic way. "Well, I'm sorry! I have no idea how to even react right now! I never even expected this moment could ever _happen_!"

"Well," Donna snarled back, "If you hadn't abandoned me back on Earth, it wouldn't have to!"

The pair stopped for a moment, angrily glaring at each other. Amy took this opportunity to voice her confusion as to this entire situation with the strange angry woman. "Doctor?" she asked tentatively. "What's going on here?"

Amy immediately regretted her words; two sharp eyes instantly flew to her face before raking over her body in a calculated way. "This must be your new companion then, is she?" the woman sassed. "Tiny little thing, isn't she? Oh, but look at the _hair_ on her! Red." She raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, deliberately pushing a lock of her own flame hair from her face. "Well. Isn't that _wizard_." It was then her eyes fell on poor Rory, who was trying to blend in with the TARDIS interior and remain unnoticed. Her gaze made him take another few steps back."And what have we here?" she continued. "Got yourself a man this time, eh, Doctor?" She laughed, a short, hard sound. "I've been inside your head, Doctor and I have to say, I didn't think you swung that way."

"I don't!" the Doctor said defensively. "He's Amy's husband!"

"Oh, right," Donna said sarcastically. "Next you'll be telling me you kept _Jack_ around for _Rose's_ sake!"

The Doctor's expression hardened at the mention of the blonde's name. "This is about you and me, Donna. There's no need to bring her into this," he said, his voice almost a whisper.

"Oh, yes there is!" Donna snapped with a great deal more volume than the Timelord had used. "Because I _know_ you, Doctor. I know how tough you are, how well you handle the devastating situations you 'just happen across'. So I know," she continued, turning her face away from the Doctor's, "that you don't let any of it bother you. You have this uncanny, alien ability to push away all the pain you feel and hide it, as if it's all just a minor inconvenience to you and not life-shattering or even overly upsetting. You could always hide it all from me … except when it came to Rose," she finished bitterly. Donna kept her back turned, hiding her expression from the three faces who were staring at her.

The Doctor blinked. "I'm confused. Where is this going?"

The red-head let out a shaky sigh. "I used to be like you, Doctor," came her reply. "Fearless. Strong. Independent." Another sigh escaped Donna's lips. "I used to be like you … and I still am, now even more than before." Donna turned around, at last meeting the Doctor's eyes again; to his surprise, they were beginning to well with tears. "Because I feel that pain now, Doctor," she said. "I know what it's like to lose the person you care the most about in this entire universe, the one you would do anything for… I _feel _that," she choked out as she tried to stifle a sob, "because I lost _you_."

The console fell silent. No one seemed to know what do to next or what move to make. Amy and Rory were especially lost. Having just been bombarded with names of mutual friends the Doctor and this strange Donna woman apparently shared, none of who they had ever heard mentioned, much less this Donna herself, the couple was desperately trying to make some sense of the situation. They were each a little miffed; this frightening older woman had somehow gotten into _their_ TARDIS, verbally attacked them _and_ their best friend and was stomping around like she was the centre of the universe. The anger brought on by these actions, though, also did not entirely deter the feelings of pity Amy and Rory felt for Donna. She had obviously been hurt in some way and was now on the verge of tears. What were they to do? What were they to say? The Ponds' minds whirred as they tried to comprehend what was happening.

The awkward moment's pause finally broke when the Doctor crossed to Donna and slowly moved his hands to grasp the sides of her arms. "Donna Noble," he said softly, causing her eyes to look up to meet his. "I've said it before, far too many times, and I'm sure that one day I'll say it again, but Donna … I am so sorry."

At that Donna succumbed to her tears and she fell into the Doctor's arms, pulling him into a tight hug. Sobs wracked her body as Amy and Rory watched from afar, taking in the drastic mood change this peculiar women had undergone and noting the fresh tears forming in the Doctor's eyes.

"Can I just say," Rory leaned in and whispered to Amy, "that this has been _THE_ strangest day?"

"Agreed," Amy breathed.

"And I don't mean that lightly," he muttered, either to himself or to Amy. "I mean, one morning I woke up and was _plastic_. That day wasn't exactly a doozy either."

"Shhh," Amy hushed him. The Doctor and Donna had seemingly finished their tender moment and were talking quietly some distance away.

"You've changed, I see. For real this time, I mean," Donna was saying, taking in the bow-tied man's new exterior.

"Well, you know, I only keep so many hands in stock," he joked. Donna laughed. "So," he asked, somewhat skeptically but mostly with excitement, "what do you think?"

Donna circled him with sharp eyes. "It's … different," she said.

The Doctor stiffened, defensive. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Donna said, raising her hands in surrender. "It's just …" she trailed off with a smile. "You're my 'lanky stick of nothing' anymore, I suppose."

"Yes, well, what can you do?" he shrugged. "I do kind of miss the hair, though," he said, raising a hand to touch it. "It was so … edgy."

"Well, this new do's got a nice color to it, I suppose," Donna offered.

The Doctor huffed. "I guess. I was really hoping to be ginger this time. Ooh! he suddenly cried with a flourish of his arms. "New plan! Next time, I'm going to regenerate as _you_!"

Donna laughed. "Another Doctor-Donna? I don't know how many more of me the planet can stand!"

"Speaking of that," the Doctor suddenly recalled, "is that how you got into my TARDIS? With your knowledge from the meta-crisis?"

Donna tapped on her head, smiling. "It was easy. I just applied a tiny electromagnetic shock to the flip drive which, when paired with the neuron relay I applied to the door using the battery of my car and the slight trace of your DNA my body retained from my transformation, I was able to create a reaction in the – "

"I get it. You unlocked the door. Hooray for you," the Doctor shushed her before she could go any further. "Is that what I sound like when I explain things? Good God, that was boring." He brushed off Donna's eye-roll and continued on. "I guess this means you still have some Timelord smarts kicking around in that pretty little head of yours."

"Most of it, I think," Donna said. "I'm trying to careful, though. It hurts when I try to remember certain things, and I know I should be dead right now …" She met the Doctor's eyes. "Why is it that I'm still alive, Doctor? You said this was impossible."

"It is."

"Then how am I still here?"

"I don't know," he said stiffly.

Donna huffed. "I know that expression, new face or not," she grumbled. "You at least have a theory on why this has happened." The Doctor's mouth twitched. "Oi!" Donna said, cutting him off as he opened his mouth to deny it. "Let's hear it. _Now."_

The Doctor was silent for a moment. "It's probably nothing, just a coincidence," he finally started, "but …"

"What?"

The Doctor said nothing. His hand pulled a hanky out of his coat pocket, which he wrapped around his hand before pulling the object he had found under a bush mere minutes before. He held it out for Donna to see, watching her expression with a guarded one of his own. Her face fell pale and took on a slight edge of panic as her eyes flew back from the object to meet his as she wordlessly confirmed she had understood what the object's presence had most likely meant.

"Have you told them?" she asked, gesturing to the Ponds, who were too deep in a discussion on Donna's potential back story to notice the shift in her attention.

"No," he said. "I'd rather you didn't either, not until we're sure. I don't want them to panic."

Donna frowned. "Are you sure? These are your friends, Doctor. They have a right to know, especially if they're in danger!" Her eyes narrowed. "Don't you trust them? Don't you care at all?"

The Doctor smiled. "Completely."

Donna took a last glance in the couple's direction before sucking in a breath and nodding. The Doctor returned the object to his pocket and the old friends began to decide what to do next. Things between Donna and Amy and Rory would have to be smoothed over and explained. They would have to figure out why Donna's memory had returned, and how it was possible for her to survive this occurrence.

And, most importantly, they had to discover why the small, golden bulb the Doctor had found under a bush was present, and what the tiny piece of technology meant in terms of the Earth's future.

If there was one thing Donna Noble hadn't missed since her separation of the Doctor, it was the constant threat of the Daleks that, hard as they tried, they could never seem to escape.

* * *

><p><strong>*waves frantically like a maniac* HI GUYS! Remember me? I am that AWFUL, AWFUL fanfiction writing who has seriously been negleting all their fanfiction duties! Hi!<strong>

**I really don't have a GOOD excuse for not updating sooner. Basically, I got thrown back into the hectic 'real world' when summer ended and got so preoccupied I've had zero time to write. Then, when I DID, I could not for the _life_ of me remember what I had inteneded to happen next. It's like the Plot Monster came and ate all my ideas up like Oreos, leaving me with a supreme case of the dreaded _Writer's Block_. (I've had some fluff peices in mind, but didn't want to write them until I made some progress on my current multi-chaptered fics.)**

**I had to force myself to sit down and just WRITE to get anywhere with this story. I'm really trying to get back into the groove. Because of this, this is not my best piece of wrting (My first thought afterwards was 'Ohai, dialogue ...') but it has helped me reconfigure and make sense of all my ideas.**

**I wish I could promise you all a speedy update, but I know I probably can't with my current schedule. To everyone who has asked in your lovely reviews, YES, I AM continuing this story .. Its just taking a long while. (The same goes for my Veronica Mars fic, 'Patient', if anyone is reading that as well.)**

**Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! You are all fantastic people!**

**And guess what - fantastic people tend to leave reviews ... *winkwink***

**Thanks so much again!**

**- LifelongObsessor**


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